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Weekly Eater
Nadine Kam
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GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Takeout portions of grilled steak, with two scoops rice and salad, are among the items offered at Blue Water Shrimp & Seafood Co.
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Shrimp buses drive down prices
The phrase "circle the wagons" seems outdated today as it refers to 19th-century Wild West-bound U.S. settlers and their tactic of forming a defensive circle with their covered wagons to thwart attacks by those native to the areas they were trying to claim.
Blue Water Shrimp & Seafood Co.
95-130 Kamehameha Highway, Mililani / 232-5956
Waiakamilo Shopping Center, corner of Waiakamilo and Kamualii / 699-0658
2145 Kuhio St., Waikiki / 926-3532
Food: 1/2
Service: 1/2
Ambience: N/A
Value:
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily at Waiakamilo; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily at Waikiki; and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays at Mililani
Cost: Less than $10 per person
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These days, we're likely to be circling the lunch wagons instead, as a defense against rising costs of food and fuel. For those who have implored me to include more cheap eats, this one's for you.
And for those who consider it difficult to stray far from home in search of sustenance, be patient, a Blue Water Shrimp & Seafood Co., truck might be coming to your neighborhood.
There are already three - in Waikiki, on Waiakamilo at Dillingham and in Mililani. Others are planned in the Ward Avenue area and Kaimuki/Niu Valley.
The idea, for employees displaced by last year's closing of Magoo's Pizza, was to take the nomadic approach of bringing inexpensive plate lunches to the people.
It's hard to miss the Blue Water buses, painted a deep ocean blue with all manner of ocean critters, from lobsters to green sea turtles and clownfish. There are dozens of lunch wagons scattered throughout Honolulu, but the eye-catching paint job and large signage made me stop for a closer inspection.
I found the one at Waiakamilo and figured it was about time someone brought a shrimp truck to Honolulu. Now that gasoline is climbing toward the $5-per-gallon mark, there will probably be fewer people cruising to the North Shore on weekends.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Cooks Gill Lapda and Angel Ajimine keep it hot at the Waiakamilo site.
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Those hoping for a bite of fiery shrimp as at the North Shore will only find salt-and-pepper style ($10.95), garlic shrimp or scampi here ($6.95 mini/$10.95 full), of decent thumb size and split down the back for easy shelling. There are daily specials that might include furikake-coated ahi ($6.95).
What you might find at a lunch wagon is some inconsistency from day to day. One day, the potato salad was runny; the next it was fine. The ahi was salty when I tried it, but on subsequent days, none of the other dishes I ordered had the same problem.
Perhaps the staff was trying to get rid of fish that day, because I got want amounted to four 4-ounce fillets, enough for four meals. Other portions were normal single helpings.
Top sirloin, simply grilled with a touch of salt and pepper, is also a big part of the menu (not available at Waikiki location). It can be served solo ($6.95) with still-crunchy sauteed onions, or coupled with shrimp ($7.95). I appreciated the fact that they slice the steak, because it's frustrating to cut steak in a Styrofoam container with a plastic knife.
Ditto the home-style pork chops ($5.95), also served with onion. This might be only the fourth time in my life that I've ever ordered pork chops, just because it's such a hassle to cut around the bone. Here, they do the work for you, and you still end up with an appetite-sating portion.
The only thing missing, thus far, is dessert.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
It's walk-up service at the Blue Water Shrimp & Seafood Co. at the corner of Waiakamilo and Kaumualii streets in the Dillingham area. Local fare includes steak and shrimp prepared right in the bus.
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